4 ms·

The ghost of the skype acquisition would make me panic.

cma 8y ago
They can stop updating the Github web interface and put all development efforts on a new Github for Windows Store UWP app.
adfm 8y ago
http://blog.sunrise.am/ http://blog.sunrise.am/
- nicoburns 8y ago
  That one was really sad. Sunrise was an excellent product. I'm actually tempted to recreate it myself. I'm sure it would be possible to commercialise something like that.
nailer 8y ago
That's Steve Ballmer. He had the reverse-Midas touch, but he's gone now.
- derrikcurran 8y ago
  Microsoft was actually highly successful under Ballmer. Just not in terms of image or in the consumer-facing world.
  - origami777 8y ago
    It's a big company and hard to blame an individual for mistakes. But they totally missed out on being the mobile OS of the future under him. And they ended up getting a late, slow start to cloud computing (minus SAAS).
    - nailer 8y ago
      They lost their market leading position in not just mobile, but also browsers and consumer operating systems.
  - discordance 8y ago
    They might have made money under Ballmer, but he was also responsible for Windows 8, Windows Phone and restricting open source within the company.
  - ggg9990 8y ago
    They made a lot of money, but were not successful. Business software companies become irrelevant decades before their revenues go away (eg IBM). Microsoft lost its future relevance under Ballmer.
    - earenndil 8y ago
      Ballmer may have hurt microsoft, but they are still alive and well. The truth of it is that for a lot of things they do, there just isn't a competitor, nor will one arise soon. No one is replacing excel. As for windows -- there are a couple of niches where mac or linux could step in, but for most of them, that just isn't an option. Azure, typescript, vscode, ms office, office 365 are massively successful.
      - ggg9990 8y ago
        Sure, MS is alive and well and may outlast every other tech giant today (except probably Amazon). But that doesn't make Ballmer a good CEO.
        earenndil 8y ago
        I never said he was, just that he didn't sacrifice their future relevancy.
  - nailer 8y ago
    No. Microsoft's market cap remained steady during a 10 year boom that gave rise to most of the dominant players in the tech industry. https://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/08/23/the-steve-ballmer-era-by-the-numbers/ https://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/08/23/the-steve-ballmer...
p1esk 8y ago
Why? I've been using Skype as my main video/text chat app since ~2002. It hasn't changed much after the acquisition.
- ggg9990 8y ago
  You must not have updated your client.
- ohashi 8y ago
  Really? It's become nearly unusable for me. I used to have it open all the time and talk to lots of people. Now it feels closer to an infection on my computer that I only pull up when I have to talk to someone on it and then promptly struggle to logout and make sure it's truly closed.
  - mhh__ 8y ago
    Comparison of Skype to (Say) Discord is like a different universe (Sometimes [Electron!])
- paranoidrobot 8y ago
  I used to like Skype, but they've made a bunch of terrible choices. Their integration of Microsoft Messenger and Microsoft IDs into Skype has meant that I now have two or three contacts for some people, and I have to switch which contact I send messages to depending on what device they are currently using. They've also broken other basic functionality like sending messages - even with a solid internet connection on both sides, it will often refuse to send messages leaving them in a 'Sending' state. Other times i'll be in the middle of a conversation and I won't get a reply to certain messages that appear to have sent correctly. Hours or days later I'll get a confused "What?" message from that person, to which I've got no idea what they're talking about, and then they send me a screenshot showing a half dozen messages suddenly showing up from previous conversations. Then there's situations where I'll get messages on one device, but not on another (eg phone). So I've got someone pissed at me because I'm not responding to them, when the notifications are all piling up on my phone or another laptop, or whatever. All in all, Skype has become so unreliable that I will only use it to make calls, because at least that way I can be sure the messages are getting through.

cma 8y ago

They can stop updating the Github web interface and put all development efforts on a new Github for Windows Store UWP app.

adfm 8y ago

http://blog.sunrise.am/ http://blog.sunrise.am/

nicoburns 8y ago
That one was really sad. Sunrise was an excellent product. I'm actually tempted to recreate it myself. I'm sure it would be possible to commercialise something like that.

nailer 8y ago

That's Steve Ballmer. He had the reverse-Midas touch, but he's gone now.

derrikcurran 8y ago
Microsoft was actually highly successful under Ballmer. Just not in terms of image or in the consumer-facing world.
- origami777 8y ago
  It's a big company and hard to blame an individual for mistakes. But they totally missed out on being the mobile OS of the future under him. And they ended up getting a late, slow start to cloud computing (minus SAAS).
  - nailer 8y ago
    They lost their market leading position in not just mobile, but also browsers and consumer operating systems.
- discordance 8y ago
  They might have made money under Ballmer, but he was also responsible for Windows 8, Windows Phone and restricting open source within the company.
- ggg9990 8y ago
  They made a lot of money, but were not successful. Business software companies become irrelevant decades before their revenues go away (eg IBM). Microsoft lost its future relevance under Ballmer.
  - earenndil 8y ago
    Ballmer may have hurt microsoft, but they are still alive and well. The truth of it is that for a lot of things they do, there just isn't a competitor, nor will one arise soon. No one is replacing excel. As for windows -- there are a couple of niches where mac or linux could step in, but for most of them, that just isn't an option. Azure, typescript, vscode, ms office, office 365 are massively successful.
    - ggg9990 8y ago
      Sure, MS is alive and well and may outlast every other tech giant today (except probably Amazon). But that doesn't make Ballmer a good CEO.
      - earenndil 8y ago
        I never said he was, just that he didn't sacrifice their future relevancy.
- nailer 8y ago
  No. Microsoft's market cap remained steady during a 10 year boom that gave rise to most of the dominant players in the tech industry. https://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/08/23/the-steve-ballmer-era-by-the-numbers/ https://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/08/23/the-steve-ballmer...

p1esk 8y ago

Why? I've been using Skype as my main video/text chat app since ~2002. It hasn't changed much after the acquisition.

ggg9990 8y ago
You must not have updated your client.
ohashi 8y ago
Really? It's become nearly unusable for me. I used to have it open all the time and talk to lots of people. Now it feels closer to an infection on my computer that I only pull up when I have to talk to someone on it and then promptly struggle to logout and make sure it's truly closed.
- mhh__ 8y ago
  Comparison of Skype to (Say) Discord is like a different universe (Sometimes [Electron!])
paranoidrobot 8y ago
I used to like Skype, but they've made a bunch of terrible choices. Their integration of Microsoft Messenger and Microsoft IDs into Skype has meant that I now have two or three contacts for some people, and I have to switch which contact I send messages to depending on what device they are currently using. They've also broken other basic functionality like sending messages - even with a solid internet connection on both sides, it will often refuse to send messages leaving them in a 'Sending' state. Other times i'll be in the middle of a conversation and I won't get a reply to certain messages that appear to have sent correctly. Hours or days later I'll get a confused "What?" message from that person, to which I've got no idea what they're talking about, and then they send me a screenshot showing a half dozen messages suddenly showing up from previous conversations. Then there's situations where I'll get messages on one device, but not on another (eg phone). So I've got someone pissed at me because I'm not responding to them, when the notifications are all piling up on my phone or another laptop, or whatever. All in all, Skype has become so unreliable that I will only use it to make calls, because at least that way I can be sure the messages are getting through.